Liberia's Auditor General Elected Chairman of ECOSAI, Promises Improved Accountability and Compliance

Liberia's Auditor General, P. Garswa Jackson, has been elected Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States Supreme Audit Institutions (ECOSAI) for a two-year term, succeeding Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu, the Auditor General of Ghana. Jackson's election was unopposed, and he has pledged to improve accountability, compliance, and audit effectiveness across government entities in the region. He presented a comprehensive system for tracking and acting on audit recommendations, which received positive feedback from members, emphasizing the importance of institutional ownership, enforcement, and executive support in ensuring the implementation of audit recommendations.

Key Takeaways:

• Liberia's Auditor General, P. Garswa Jackson, has been elected Chairman of ECOSAI for a two-year term, succeeding Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu.
• Jackson's election was unopposed, and he has pledged to improve accountability, compliance, and audit effectiveness across government entities in the region.
• The ECOSAI chairman is responsible for promoting cooperation and coordination among supreme audit institutions in the region.
• Liberia's Audit Follow-up Mechanism aims to improve accountability, compliance, and audit effectiveness by tracking and acting on audit recommendations.
• The system includes key components such as a corrective action plan, audit recommendation tracker, follow-up dashboards, and collaboration with key stakeholders.
• Ghana's experience highlights the importance of executive buy-in in achieving results, with robust government support resulting in fund recoveries and enhanced compliance.
• Maintaining inter-institutional cooperation and political will is essential to guaranteeing the prompt and successful execution of audit recommendations.
• The ECOWAS Levy Audit, the Member State 4.5% Community Levy Subvention Audit, and Collaborative Audit Planning of the ECOWAS Community Levy were also discussed at the meeting.
• Auditor General Jackson was flanked by auditors from Guinea-Bissau and Benin, elected as first and second vice chairpersons, respectively.

Statistics:

• Liberia's Auditor General, P. Garswa Jackson, will serve as ECOSAI Chairman for a two-year term (2025-2027).
• The ECOWAS Levy Audit, the Member State 4.5% Community Levy Subvention Audit, and Collaborative Audit Planning of the ECOWAS Community Levy were discussed at the meeting.
• Ghana recovered fund and enhanced compliance through robust government support (president's pledge to create commercial courts for audit-related cases).
• Members emphasized the importance of institutional ownership, enforcement, and executive support in ensuring the implementation of audit recommendations (note 12 members agreed with this point).

Sources:

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